Self-clinching anchor nail



' Aug. 4,1925.

J. F. GOODMAN SELF GLINCHING ANCHOR NAI L Filed March 24, 1924 z m M m JKG'oodmazz Patented Aug. 41, 1925.

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JAMES F. GOODMAN, OF BRIGHTON, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF 'lQ CLAUDE- G. BOLISON, 01E BRIGHTON, MICHIGAN.

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Application med-mama at, 1924.. Serial- No. 701,50a.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that l, JAMEs F. GoonMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brighton, in the county of Livingston and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self- Clinching Anchor Nails, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to anchor nails or spikes which are self clinching.

These nails are made in two parts, namely, a jacket and an anchor member. The object of the invention is to provide such anchor nails which firmly hold together the difi'erent boards or slats of which a packing case, box, or crate is made, and which provide such strong connection that the boards cannot be separated except by destroying them.

The device is especially valuable for heavy spikes, in which case, they are provided with two or more anchor points. The invention is applicable not only to large spikes and nails but also to small nails which permit the splitting or slotting of the points.

One use of my self clinching anchor nail is tofasten the rails of railroad tracks when they are driven into the wooden ties and anchored securedly therein without danger of loosening. Similarly these nails or spikes are very suitable in the construction of wharfs, bridges, shipbuilding, scafi'olding, roadway planking, and in fact in all kinds of heavy construction work wherever spikes of the greatest possible gripping power are desired.

No matter whether used in seasoned or unseasoned wood, the self clinching anchor nails will furnish a permanent connection. The cost of manufacturing my self clinching anchor nails isnot excessive, but very moderate, as one of these nails possesses a gripping power equal to about three ordinary nails. j

1n the accompanying drawing, the subject matter of the present invention-1s illustrated, an

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a clinching anchor nail as it appears in position in two boards which it is intended'to secure together;

Figure 2 1s a perspective View of the inner or anchoring member of-the device;

have their points 22 bent out and slig Figure 3 is a perspective view of a three cornered jacket for the anchoring member;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of a jacket of elliptical cross section;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectionalong line 5-5 of Fig. 3; I

Figure 6 is a longitudinal section similar to Fig. 4-. of a modified form of jacket;

Figure 7 is a transversesection along line 77 of Fig. 6, and

Figure 8 is a plan view of a blank from which the jacket of the anchoring nail is made.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 4, in the drawing, reference numeral 10 represents a jacket and number 11 an anchor member. The'iacket 10 is tubular and may have any suitable cross section, shown as elliptical in said figures partly for the reason of pointed end upwardis obtained, thelower end of the tongueremaining integral with the side of the jacket 10 as at 16. If two of these tongues are furnished in this manner they are brought together at the center of the jacket so as to furnish a wedge or anvil with concave surfaces 42, forming a sunken floor on each side, as clearly shown in Figs.

1 and 4. z

The anchoring memberll has the shape of an ordinary nail with a flat fairly large head i 17 at its upper end anda straight shank 18 projecting downwardly therefrom. The lower end of the shank is split longitudinal- 1y, as at 19, to provide two fingers-20 and 21, the lower ends of which are tapered to a point. As indicated-in Fig. 2, the fingfi's y undercut in order to guidethe anchoring and facilitate t e curving of the points.

In orderto nail to ther two boards 23 member in its 'acket 10 during assembling,-

and 24, see Fig. 1', to jacket 10 is first driven in to its full depth until the collar 12- is seated in the outer board 23, the point 13 of the jacket having penetrated to a considerable depth into the lower board 24. The anchoring member 11 is then inserted in the jacket 10 in such a manner that the outwardly'bent points 22 of its fingers engage in the two grooves defined by the smaller arcs of the elliptical jacket, the narrow portion or minor diameter thereof being approximately of the same diameter as that of the shank of the anchoring member 11 so that the latter is firmly held in transverse directions. As the triangular openings 14 have been formed in the narrower sides of the jacket 10 it is now evident that the bent points 22 of the fingers will guide the shank 18 so that the slit 19 will register with the sharp point or apex of the anvil formed by the tongues 15, when the lower end of the shank has reached this point. By continuing the hammering or pressing on the head 17 the fingers 20 and 21 are compelled to spread apart over the anvil, and protrude through the triangular openings 14 at the opposite sides of the jacket 10 and to firmly enter the wood of the lower board 24, as indi- 'cated in Fig. 1. On account of the peculiar shape of the sides and sunken floor 42 of the anvil, the fingers 20 and 21 will follow an arcuate path upwards and take the shape of arms on an anchor.

. In Figs. 3 and 5 is shown a jacket 25 of triangular cross section, that is to say the jacket has three flat sides 26, joined attheir edges to form sharp straight corners. The upper end of the jacket is, as before, providedwith a collar 27 and the fiat sides are sharpened and brought together to form a point 28. As before, apertures 29 and inwardly bent tongues 30 and 31 are formed in one of the flat sides 26 and across one of the corner channels 32 of the jacket, as best seen in Fig. 5, the corner channel constit lting a guiding groove for one-point of the anchor. This construction is followed if the anchoring member has only two fingers 20 and 21, but at times, and particularly for large spikes, it may be preferable to provide three fingers on the shank, in which case, three openings and tongues are provided in the jacket. Whether the jacket has elliptical cross section or triangular cross section it maybe made from drawn tubes, in which case, no seams would occur at the corners or grooves of the jacket but it is evident that in most cases it might be preferable to make the jackets from sheet metal. In the latter case a blank would first be cut as indicated in Fig. 8 of the 7 drawing. The longitudinal side edges of the blank would then preferably be roughened or'dove-tailed, as at 35, so that when the threesides of the jacket are formed by folding the blank along two longitudinal lines 45 thereof, the dove-tail portions of the edges will interengage to form a firm connection. The lower end of the blank has previously been cut to provide V-shaped points 36 which are bent together when the blank is folded to provide a pointed end, as at 28 in Fig. 3. It is evident that the elliptical jacket 10 may be constructed in a-similiar manner.

In Figs. 6 and 7 is shown a slight modification of the device in which a jacket 37 is provided with additional perforations 38 along its sides and the resulting barbs 39 are bent outwardly and point upwardly in order to form additional gripping elements between the jacket and the material into which the nail is driven. Beside the tongues 40 forming the anvil in this construction an additional tongue 41 below the former may be furnished to engage the lower sides of the tongues 40 to, support the same when heavy blows are delivered upon the anchoring member.

An additional advantage of making the jackets'elliptical ortria-ngular in cross section is that when nailing the thin edges of boards assurance will be had that the anchoring fingers 20 and 21 of the shank 1 8 can be pointed in any desired direction 111 the wood so as not to penetrate through the sides of the board or in transverse direction thereof.

Another advantage of using these cross sections of jackets is that the latter are stiffened considerably and the elliptical shape is preferably used for small nails while the triangular shape is for large nails and spikes.

' As the holding power of this self clinchor clinched on the reverse side, which isunsightly .and in most cases very unsatisfactory, as instead of making a firm unit, it often causes the wood to split and break at the anchoring point. Such an operation 1s, furthermore, a waste of time.

The fingers 20 and 21 may be provided with roughened surfaces or small upturned notches adapted to engage in the wood as Well as in'the inside of the jacket to provide an additional security for the anchoring member from becomin loosened.

In very large anchoring nails or spikes the jacketmay be provided with longitudinal corrugations or grooves in order to stiffen the sides thereof and guide the anchor.

In the forms of the device illustrated in Figs. 3, 5, 6 and 7, the anvils formed by the to -latte tongues 30, 31 and respectively, are also provided with a sunken or cup shaped floor 42. 1

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A self clinching nail comprising a tubular jacket having flattened sides, a point formed at one end of the jacket, inwardly and upwardly projecting tongues integral with the jacket brought together within the same to form a substantially wedge-shaped anvil with concave sides constituting sunken floors, and an anchoring member having a straight shank split at itslower end-to form thin, pointed fingers adapted to be forced apart by the anvil and curved upward by the sunken floors of the sides of the anvil when pressure is applied at the other end of said member. a

2. A self clinching nail comprising a tubular jacket having flattened sides, a point formed at one end of the jacket, tongues integral with the jacket brought together within the same to form a substantially wedge-shaped anvil with concave sides constituting sunken floors, and an anchoring member having a straight shank split at its lower end to form thin, pointed fingers adapted to be forced apart by the anvil and curved upward by the sunken floors of the sides of the anvil when pressure is applied at the other end of said member, a groove I being formed between the flattened sides of the jacket providing a guide for one of said fingers.

3. A self clinching nail comprising a tubular-jacket having flattened sides, a point 7 formed at one end of the jacket, tongues integral with the jacket brought together within the same to form a substantially wedge-shaped anvil with concave sides constituting sunken floors, and an anchoring member having a. straight shank split at its lower end to form thin, pointed fingers adapted to be forced apart by the anvil and curved upward by the sunken floors of the sides thereof when pressure is'applied at the other end of said member, a groove being formed between the flattened sides of the jacket providing a guide for one of said fingers, said fingers having a roughened gripping surface.

4:. 'A self clinching nail comprising a tubular jacket having flattenedsides, a point formed at one end of the jacket, tongues integral with the jacket brought together within the same to form a substantially wedgeshaped anvil with concave sides constituting sunken floors, and an anchoring member having a straight shank split at its lower end to form thin, pointed fingers adapted to be forced apart by the anvil and curved u wardr 9y the sunken floors of the sides thereo when pressure is applied at the other end ofsaid member, grooves being formed between the flattened sides of the jacket providing a guide for one of said fingers, said jacket being provided with upwardly dirt-1 ted barbs.

5. A self clinching nail comprising a tubular jacket having flattened sides, a point formed at one end of the jacket, tongues integral with the jacket brought together within the jacket to formga substantially Wedge-shaped anvil with concave sides constituting sunken floors, and an anchoring member having a straight shank split at its lower end to form thin, pointed fingersl adapted to be forced apart by the anvil and curved upward by the sunken floors-of the sides thereof when pressure is applied at the other end of said member, grooves being formed between the flattened sides of the jacket providing a guide for one of said fingers, said fingers having a roughened gripping surface and said jacket being provided with upwardly directed barbs.

6. A self clinching nail comprising a tubular jacket having'fiattened sides, a point formed at one end of the jacket, tongues integral with the jacket brought together within the jacket to form a substantially wedge-shaped anvil with concave si'des con- ,stituting sunken floors, and an anchoring member having a straight shank split at its lower end to form thin, pointed fingers adapted to be forced apart by the anvil and curved upward by the sunken floors of the sides thereof when pressure is applied. at the other end of said member, grooves being formed between the flattened sides of the jacket providing a guide for one of said fingers, said fingers having a roughened gripping surface and said jacket being provided .with upwardly directed barbs, and a supporting element being provided beneath said anvil, said element forming an integral part of said jacket.

7 A self clinching nail comprising a tubular jacket and an anchoring member; said tubular jacket being produced from a sheet metal blank having notched edges, said blank being folded along longitudinal lines until said notches interengage thus forming a sleeve of triangular cross section, a point formed at one endof the jacket, tongues inte- Nib lift

gral with the jacket brought together to form. a substantially wedge-shaped anvil with concave sides constituting sunken floors; said anchoring member having a flat head, a straight shank split at its lower end to form thin fingersand adapted to be forced apart and curved upward by said anvil when pressure is applied against said head. v

8. A self clinching nail comprising a tubular jacket and an anchoring member; said tubular jacket being produced from a sheet metalblank having notched edges, said blank being folded along longitudinal lines until said notches ,interengage thus forming a sleeve of triangular cross section, a point formed at one end of the jacket, and .tongues integral with the jacket brought together within the jacket to form a substantially Wedge-shaped anvil with concave sides constituting sunken floors; said anchoring member having a flat head, and a straight shank split at its lower end to form thin fingers,'the ends of said fingers being bent apart and curved outwardly whereby a. 10

finger may register with a groove formed along a folded edge of the jacket during assembling, and adapted to be spread apart by said anvil when pressure is applied against said head.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

JAMES F. GOODMAN: 1,. 8.] 

